Some things you might not know about Nintendo's Satoru Iwata
Gamer, leader, programming wizard
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's long-standing and incredibly smart CEO, has passed away. It's news that has brought tributes from both companions and competitors of Iwata's, not to mention an outpouring of heartfelt condolences from the gaming community at large.
After taking over from the Yamauchi dynasty and becoming its president in 2002, Iwata turned Nintendo into an immeasurable force for gaming that stood for fun and innovation. Iwata's humility, ability to accept responsibility for mistakes, and genuine love for gaming made him one of the greats - not to mention that almost anyone with some interest in gaming will have enjoyed an experience that was at least partly thanks to Iwata.
You probably know that Iwata oversaw the launch of the Wii, and you might know that he launched the DS, a handheld console that was predicted to be outpaced by its technologically superior rival, the PSP. Both of these things turned out to be huge successes, proving that innovation can always triumph over power - and that Nintendo definitely had the right guy at the top.
But there's plenty more to Iwata that you might not know about.
1. He valued employees highly, sometimes at his own expense
Iwata was never one to shy away from the company's mistakes, and following a profit slump in 2013 he announced that he would slash his pay in half for five months. He was also not a fan of reducing staff. During the 73rd annual shareholders meeting, he was asked why the company hadn't restructured to account for operating losses. His response was spot on:
"If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, however, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world."
"I also know that some employers publicise their restructuring plan to improve their financial performance by letting a number of their employees go, but at Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo's business in the long run."
2. He was an exceptional programmer who saved Earthbound
At the time that Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) was being developed, Iwata was working as a programmer and the head of HAL Laboratories. When he saw the difficulties that the development team were having with Mother 2, he voiced his doubts that the game could be completed on time. "If we used what you have now and fix it, it will take 2 years," he told them. "If we can start fresh, it'll take half a year."
Iwata then took over development of Mother 2, and returned a month later having got the game's map scrolling feature to work. Once he'd joined the team, the game only took another year of development thanks to Iwata's programming magic.
3. He managed to cram a country into a game cartridge
When Gamefreak made Pokemon Gold and Silver, only the Johto region was included in the game. Iwata thought that players deserved more, so he spent some of his spare time squeezing in the entirety of Kanto (the region from Pokemon Blue and Red) using some very heavy compression. He essentially fit in a whole extra game like it was no big deal.
4. Then he ported over the Pokemon battle logic without reference documents
...which is a big deal. The first step in creating Pokemon Stadium was to analyse the battle logic from Pokemon Red and Green and carry it over for the Nintendo 64. But in the absence of any reference documents, Iwata read through the Game Boy source code directly and managed to rework it for the 64. Oh yeah, and he did it in a week.